From Jan. 1 to Nov. 15, the PDN’s Peninsula Home Fund has helped 1,396 individuals and households in Jefferson and Clallam counties, spending $99,544.25 of the $108,514.54 collected in 2005.
There’s no question all the money will be spent by Dec. 31.
With no money diverted for administration or other overhead, the Peninsula Home Fund’s emphasis is making sure no one falls through the cracks during the most demanding time of the year — winter.
The focus is also on a “hand up, not a handout.”
All instances of assistance are designed to help get an individual or family back on the path to self-sufficiency.
Peninsula Home Fund case managers at OlyCAP — Olympic Community Action Programs, the No. 1 emergency care agency on the North Olympic Peninsula which administers the fund for the PDN and screens the applicants — work with each individual or family to develop a plan to become financially stable.
The goal is to avoid a recurrence of the emergency that prompted aid from the fund.
Said Tim Hockett, deputy director of OlyCAP:
“There was an astounding increase in service in 2005. And it is due to the huge growth of the fund last year [from $77,608 collected in 2003].
“Unfortunately, with that growth of generosity has come an increase in need.
“We have helped more people in more difficult situations than ever before — including more than a dozen evacuees of Hurricane Katrina.
“We have also drawn upon the fund to help people with incidentals in the wake of personal disasters like losing a home to fire.”
A brief summary of Peninsula Home Fund assistance.
* Disaster assistance: 20 people and households helped; $1,739.
* Shelter and occupancy costs: 287; $36,509.
* Energy and utility assistance: 209; $22,148.
* Medical access and prescriptions: 235; $12,837.
* Clothing, diapers, special diet food: 184; $8,361.
* Transportation, relocation assistance: 392; $13,333.
* Misc. assistance: 69; $4,617.
Said Hockett:
“Rita Houston, director of the OlyCAP’s Community Services Division, and her team are trying hard to make the funds last until the end of the year — but at the rate we are receiving requests, the money will be gone before then.”
